Stanley Clarke: Goodbye Porkpie Hat

[Dr. Cheese]

This is from his recent birthday concerts. Clarke and the band sound great!

 

[FunkHead]

Great song. I used to play along with it on the Jeff Beck wired CD.

 

[gwangi]

I noticed his Alembic has a dummy humcanceller between the 2 single coils and is the scale length on this bass 30.75 cause it looks longer to me from the video other than my observations of his KILLER!!!! looking Alembic Stanley SLAYS!!!! it as usual and yes I love the "School Days" album, I remember buying that album back in 1980 on vinyl when I first took up electric bass, I love that album.

 

[5StringBlues]

 

[J Wilson]

Genius at work. Mr. Clarke is a full-growed man with big hands (not many are strong enough to do push-the-peghead-tremolo on an Alembic neck), and his short scale axes actually have necks shaved smaller than the over-the-counter versions they sell. He always puts the lie to the 'I can't slap on tight spaced/little necks', but then with his prodigious technique, he routinely does things we mere mortals gasp at.

If you ever want to hear what Alembics are capable of, I can think of no one better to follow.

 

[BazzaBass]

I bought Stanley Clarke’s self titled album in 1974. My taste in music was changed forever

 

[stringthrough]

Great bassist. Always like his upright playing way more than his electric playing.

 

[mark286]

Yep, "School Days" was an eye opener for me in so many ways. I'm going to give it a listen again right now!

 

[Roxbororob]

This is from his recent birthday concerts. Clarke and the band sound great!

I am happy to say I finally got to see Stanley (with this amazing band) last week. Wow! Thanks for the post Doc.

 

[Lo-E]

Great bassist. Always like his upright playing way more than his electric playing.

YES!

 

[CryingBass]

Great post. I have seen Stanley play that song live a few times. Really fits his soloing style. SC = GOAT!

 

[SDC1-ClickClack]

Mr. Clarke and the band sound good, but I could only watch just over 2 minutes of that clip due to the frequent choppy edits. Too much like trying to listen to a vinyl LP that skips a lot.

 

[Bob_Ross]

It takes a lot of patience, and then the ability to spot brief moments, "flashes in the pan" as it were, but that video does indeed confirm that, under duress (apparently) Stanley Clarke can indeed blow over changes. I just wish he did more of it!

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If you ever want to hear what Alembics are capable of, I can think of no one better to follow.

I'm gonna quibble with that point.
If you ever want to hear one particular thing that Alembics are capable of, then sure, Stan's The Man.
But Alembic basses are capable of SO MUCH MORE than Stanley Clarke has ever eeked out of any of their instruments, that it would be a disservice to point to him as the This Is What Our Basses Do poster child.
To wit: Stanley has always gone for a nasal, bandpassed, twangy tone ...which certainly lends itself to the type of parts he plays on his music, but which would be so horrifically inappropriate on so many other types of music that it would be almost embarassing to cite his work as exemplary of what an Alembic is capable of. They can do so much more!

I'd be tempted to point to Jimmy Johnson as a more representative figure in the What Alembic Basses Are Capable Of pantheon. Or maybe we need a spectrum, from John McVie at one end and Stanley Clarke at the other?

In any case, Alembic definitely allowed Stan to develop his own voice, and so the two names are inextricably intertwined...and that makes for some great listening for all of us!

 

[bass12]

I saw that band a couple of weeks ago (might have been a different keyboard player). I have to say I was disappointed. The only real standout for me was the violinist, who was incredible. Saw Marcus a few days later and he and his band killed it (and blew Stanley’s band out of the water).